There are times you know going into a film that your expectations for special effects should not be set too high. Other times, you assume a big budget film would spend the extra bucks to get computer generated scenes as perfect as possible. Sometimes that is accomplished to the extent of the available technology, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. Whatever the case may be, we thought it would be fun to compile our list of the worst computer generated imagery (CGI) we’ve witnessed in film.

A couple things spurred the idea for this list. The first of which was a rant Tres posted last week regarding a particularly cartoonish looking aspect to the new Transformers film. Contrast that with the impression left on Gene by the impeccable motion capture technology on display in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Those are two distinctly different technologies at work, so perhaps it isn’t fair to make a straight line comparison. Regardless, some CGI hits it out of the park, while others are a big swing and a miss.

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Logan

Reversing time in Superman: Yes. I know. This movie is a classic. It was campy. It was supposed to be cheesy. I’m a comic book nerd. I love golden age comics. I get it. But this was ridiculous. Even being extremely forgiving for the cheesy dialogue, outrageously fake flying, not to mention Clark’s speed-running early in the film, this was just pathetic. The fact that Superman flying around the world to reverse its rotation is somehow supposed to reverse time doesn’t make any sense to begin with, but even the action itself looked like it belonged in a Looney Tunes short.

The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns: I love the Mummy movies. They’re the perfect blend of comedy, action, and horror (light horror, admittedly), and let’s face it, who doesn’t love Brendan Frasier? But the Scorpion King at the end of The Mummy Returns didn’t even look like it belonged in a movie. It barely would belong in a video game, unless it was a low-budget game on the first Playstation console. It made me want to laugh more than do anything, which is completely the wrong thing for the audience to want to do when a film is at its climax.

The Plane Crash in Air Force One: Harrison Ford is one of my favorite actors of all time, and Air Force One is one of his best movies, not to mention the best of another one of my favorite actors, Gary Oldman. But even as this iconic film reaches its phenomenal conclusion, it’s like the special effects department decided to take a week off. The plane crash is cringingly terrible. It would be good if it was a high school project, not a major Hollywood motion picture.

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Gene

The Hulk (2003): Not to be confused with Edward Norton’s attempt at a stand-alone Hulk film in 2008, I’m referring to the Eric Bana disaster preceding that. My issue here is The Hulk himself. From a distance he looks alright, except when they show him leapfrogging across the dessert. C’mon, I can’t even move my checkers pieces that fast on a triple-jump! The worst is the close up shots. Everything just looks woefully pieced together. His hair, the shorts, it just all seems separately crafted then flung together. The movie was purposefully cut to resemble a comic-book feel. Unfortunately ‘comical’ is a good description of the feeling I was left with.

The final attack in Jaws: This technically isn’t a CGI problem, but I’m including it in this list none-the-less. You can’t do this movie without a full reveal of the shark at some point. Thankfully that wasn’t until the end when the suspense had fully gripped everyone watching and we’re willing to give a pass to some poor, herky-jerky robotics. It’s still hard to argue that this isn’t better than the multitude of shark-centric CGI films exploding directly onto the SyFy network lately. Now taking bets on how many scary animals we can mix with a shark and have it leap out of the water. I think we’re on 17 so far.

Dr. Russell Franklin’s death in Deep Blue Sea: I feel like all I need to do is say that movie title and you’ll know what I’m referring to. This has to be in the top 5 of Samuel Jackson’s most well known movie moments. In the middle of giving an inspired speech to his fellow scientists and divers in their underwater laboratory, Jackson’s character is summarily removed from the equation by a super intelligent shark darting up out of the water and basically swallowing him whole! It’s a shocking moment to say the least. To bad I was equally shocked by how fake the shark looked.

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Elliott

Legolas takedown of an oliphaunt in Return of the King: As much as I love LOTR, there is no excuse for bad CG in big budget movies. In the final battle, Legolas takes down an oliphaunt. I have mixed thoughts about this scene. As awesome as it is to see Legolas take down this giant beast, the scene just looks awkward. Most of the CG is fine (not great), but when Legolas is standing on top of the oliphaunt something just doesn’t seem right. I think it’s a combination of the green screen and CG. Regardless they should have taken the extra time to refine this scene.

Fire suits in Hunger Games: Having read the books, I was very much looking forward to the parade scene. Cinna has designed Katniss and Peeta’s clothing to appear as if they are on fire. The fire is triggered once they lift their arms. The scene is great…well, until fire bursts from their shoulders. It looks like fire but doesn’t act like fire. Even fire has to follow the laws of physics. It looks horrible and is extremely noticeable. Despite messing up this scene, they do redeem themselves in Catching Fire. In an almost identical scene to the first parade, they do an excellent job with the fire effects.

Smith’s vs. Neo in The Matrix Reloaded: When I started thinking about movies for this list, the fight scene between Neo and Agent Smith was the first to come to mind. The fight starts out looking really good but as it progresses and gets more and more crazy, the CG gets exponentially worse. During the most CG intensive parts it just looks like plastic toys are fighting each other. Considering it’s legacy and budget, I expect much high quality than this. Fortunately the majority of the movie had great CG.

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Tres

Spidey climbing walls in Spider-Man (Toby Maguire series): I am one of the few that seems to like the original. I enjoyed Toby’s portrayal of the friendly neighborhood spider. However, when he goes crawling on buildings… WHAT??? It’s so animated it’s frustrating. Watching it for the first time to watching it all of these years later, it distracts me to a point where it get drawn way from the movie. I don’t want to be able to tell what is done by the computer.

Donovan’s Death in The Last Crusade: My favorite Indiana movie of the 3. I love the whole movie. It’s truly a journey of father and son. I love the imagery… until the end. In the end the villain drinks from the wrong cup. Then he begins to suddenly age and melt. What is that nonsense they use to display that though???

The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns: The worst and most shocking disappointment for me is in The Mummy Returns when the Scorpion King becomes part Scorpion. I have enjoyed this franchise since it first came out. I like Dwayne Johnson and feel like he gets better as an actor with age. They can make a sand storm look like an awesome mummy face. HOWEVER…they make the Rock look like some bad cartoon sketch with unbelievable insect body, horrible face design, and screwed up eyes. It’s almost bad enough to keep me from watching it.

I have so many more. I actually wrote a paragraph for each of following but weeded them out for different reasons. I feel like I have to mention them, though. Total Recall (original) the woman mask and the end with exposure to Mars atmosphere. Batman (1989) at the very beginning when you see Bats walk on the roof top. Transformers4…See my rant. Finally, what they do Emma Frost in Wolverine Origins: diamond acne.

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We’ve covered a lot of the more popular picks for a list such as this. Do you have any in mind not mentioned here? We’d love to get your input!